


Kunik

by zungenleid



Category: due South
Genre: First Time, Inuit culture, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-30
Updated: 2015-01-30
Packaged: 2018-03-09 16:50:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3257246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zungenleid/pseuds/zungenleid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fraser and Ray are stuck observing criminals and discuss wolves, houses and greetings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kunik

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kamelientee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kamelientee/gifts).



> Written for de-bingo-challenge on Livejournal (for the prompt see the end notes, it is rather spoiler-y). 
> 
> Written for kamelientee, who deserves all the glorious fluff with these two. Sorry I can only provide so much, baby.

It's freezing. There is just no other word for it. It's freezing and Ray is stuck outside in his car behind some shabby warehouses in the worst neighborhood Chicago has to offer.

How is this his life, he wonders, breathing on his fingers for the hundredths time in the last twenty minutes but they stay cold of course. What did he do to deserve this? Is it because he cheated on that one math test back in seventh grade?

A noisy, pathetic whine comes from the backseat, followed by a rustle of paper. 

“Oh shut it, Dief,” Ray snaps. “That was my last chocolate bar, and you still want more? Give a wolf a finger and he takes the whole arm!”

“Well,” Benny says. “It is natural for him.”

“It's natural for him to be a greedy little bugger?” Ray asks. He throws a glance at Benny on his right, but the Mountie keeps staring stubbornly out of the window. Right, they are supposed to watch this damn warehouse in case the forgers come back. Ray is sure that nobody in their right mind would willingly set a foot outside in this storm but of course Benny is going to keep watch until they are completely snowed in (Ray doesn't even want to think about how he is going to get his car back home).

“Well, as a predator and a member of the species _canis lupus_ , Diefenbaker does have a pronounced hunting instinct,” Benny starts to explain, without taking his eyes off the houses in front of them. “In case of attack a wolf or a wolf-dog would primarily try to bite the fastest moving limb, which for most untrained people would be the left arm, so he naturally would take the whole arm if you give him a finger...”

Benny becomes quieter with the last words probably because he can feel Ray's incredulous look burn a hole in his cheek. Ray has gotten better with telling when Benny is jerking him around but this isn't one of those times. 

That's just pure, unfiltered Benny. 

Ray scoffs. “Fraser, please. The only time for the wolf to bite my arm would be if I had a cheeseburger up my sleeve.”

“Well, he had to adjust to the new urban environment,” Benny says, but Rays knows when he has won and Benny licking his lips is usually a good sign for that. “So it's only natural that he would broaden his diet...”

“Sure, Benny. Fact is your wolf's not a wolf but a frat-boy with four paws who eats too much junk food.”

There is an indignant yap from the backseat, as Diefenbaker turns around and Ray barely avoids getting a mouth full of wolf tail in his face. 

“You know I am right!” he shouts but Dief just whines once more before he settles for staring out of the window at the ever growing hills of snow.

Ray turns to look at Benny again, a sly smile on his face. “Your wolf is sulking,” he explains, very satisfied with himself even though he is currently freezing to death in the line of duty in his own car. 

But then Benny turns his head and gives Ray the smallest smile, a happy glow in eyes and Ray feels his heart speed up. Warmth spreads from his cheeks down his neck and shoulders, but it's dark in the car, the light colored gray from the snow and the night, and so Ray doesn't care about his blush. 

“What?” he asks. “Are you laughing at me?”

Benny shakes his head. “Of course not, Ray. It's... it's nothing really.”

Nothing with Benny usually means twenty different things, so Ray just raises his brow. “Come on, Benny. Don't give me that. What's it?”

“Oh, really, Ray, it's nothing of importance, I assure you. Just...”

“Yeah?”

They are stuck here for another half an hour at least, until their relief gets here, so there is no way Ray is letting this opportunity for entertainment get away from him. Even if getting information from Benny sometimes feels like pulling teeth from a yak. 

“Well...” Benny doesn't squirm, but he sits up even straighter in the passenger seat and fixes his gaze on the warehouse again. “This is the first time this week that I heard you laugh. I... am glad.”

As always, Benny sounds slightly overwhelmed when he has to deal with happiness, but Ray is too busy keeping his face from falling. 

“Oh. You noticed, huh?”

Of course he noticed, Ray thinks, there was no way in hell Benny would have missed his constant sighs, his absent-mindedness (which got them stuck on observation duty in the first place but Ray prefers to blame karma and math class) and the thousand other little things that Ray probably didn't even notice himself. 

“Yes.” Benny takes a deep breath and turns to look at Ray again. There is a plea in his eyes, a certain helplessness, that is so foreign on his features, that Ray immediately feels terrible for making him worry. “I didn't want to presume so I did not ask right away but if ...if there is a problem...”

“Nah, Benny. It's alright,” Ray lies with a bright smile which throws Benny right off track. “I have … some things to figure out, nothing else.” This too is a lie of course. 

He figured out everything weeks ago, but coming to terms with the undeniable fact that he is in love with Benton Fraser from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and _acting on it_ are two completely different things. 

In fact, at least five of those weeks were spent in denial. And yes, Ray may be terrible at being honest with himself, but as with all things concerning Benny, he is turning into a better person – entirely against his will, but that is the power of the Mountie. 

So for the past few days, Ray has tried to find the right occasion to tell Benny that he... loves him. 

Yeah, he is long past the stages of 'like' because 'liking Benny' doesn't explain that Ray can't stand to be parted from him even when they aren't working, and it also doesn't explain that hollow feeling eating away at his lungs and heart whenever he sees Benny walking up to his apartment at night.

It doesn't explain the phrase “I don't want to go home tonight. I want to stay here with you” that has been running through Ray's mind for ages now. 

No, if he tells Benny anything it will be that he loves him. 

He has been lying to him for weeks now, or at least that what it feels like and Ray absolutely needs this to stop. 

“If there is anything I can do...”

There is so much worry in his voice, Benny is even licking his lips and Ray thinks about the million things Benny could do for him (smiling, laughing, holding open the door for strangers, stopping by at the station to go eat lunch with Ray, explaining him the most useless facts about Canadian wildlife, hugging him...). 

“Right now? Can't think of anything,” he finally says with a sigh. Of course he could ask Benny to listen to him, but he will not confess his love in the middle of an observation while they are both freezing in this car (or rather Ray is freezing. Benny is looking as fresh as spring, but that just makes Ray love him more). No, he will do this properly. Someday. When he has the right idea. “I promise I'll let you know, okay, Benny?”

Benny still eyes him warily but in the end he merely gives him a curt nod. “Understood.” 

Ray tries very hard not to roll his eyes. With a sulking wolf he can deal, but a sulking Mountie is a bit too much.

So Ray stretches his arms and sighs dramatically. “Well”, he drawls, “you could tell me why you look like you are enjoying a nice steamy bubble bath while I am turning into a human icicle. Is that a Canadian thing? Immunity to the harsh ice cold hug of Mother Nature or whatever?”

It's a rather obvious trick, trying to change the topic by getting Benny to talk about Canada but luckily Benny decides to play along. He doesn't favor awkward silence either. 

“I would not call it immunity,” Benny says, and yeah Ray is in for the long run. “But yes people from the territories have developed certain measures against the cold.” 

“Like what?”

“Like houses for example.”

And then Benny tells him _everything_. He talks about the different ways that igloos are built, explains to him that a quinzhee is entirely different from an igloo, that whale bones and skins play an essential role in building huts, that despite the walls being made of snow the interior is usually very warm due to furs and the people living inside sharing body heat... and it's all really fascinating, Ray is sure, but Benny goes on and on about the quality of the snow required to make blocks and it just isn't fair that Ray has to listen to stories about ice and snow when he can't even feel his toes anymore. 

“It all sounds really crazy to me,” he says after a while and Benny stops his constant stream of knowledge immediately. “Building houses from snow, sleeping on ice... crazy. No wonder people up there are kissing with their noses.” 

It is an off-hand remark because this is basically the only thing Ray knows about the Inuit and he just wanted to say something. He expects Benny to smile and look back at the warehouse (which they can't even see anymore, it's snowing way too hard) but instead Benny quickly opens and closes his mouth again. 

“Pardon me?”

Ray groans. “The kissing thing. You know... an Eskimo kiss?”

“I believe they prefer the term Inuit.”

“Yes, Inuit. An Inuit kiss.” A blank stare is all Ray gets. He sighs and holds up his hand, sticking his thumb between two fingers. “You know? Rubbing their noses together as way of greeting?” 

He mimics it, touching his thumb to his nose and rubbing it slightly (noticing with horror that his nose feels ice cold, he is going to die in this car, that's for sure), but Benny just stares at him in mild amusement.

And it's only then that Ray understands that maybe talking about kissing isn't the safest way to avoid confessing his feelings to Benny. He really doesn't want to do it here, it's neither the right place nor the right time, and his mind is already running into fantasy land anyway, where Benny smiles at him, cups his face and shyly kisses him on the lips.

Before Ray can stop him, Benny takes a deep breath. 

“That is a serious misconception about the Inuit culture, Ray. While it is true that there is a certain form of greeting quite different from a handshake which is more common in Western cultures, it is not at all like two people rubbing their noses together.”

“It...isn't?” Ray asks while trying very hard not to think about kissing.

He fails and catches a quick glance at Benny's mouth and as always, Benny licks his lips. 

Damn his karma and seventh grade.

“The actual practice,” Benny exclaims, “is called 'kunik'. It involves pressing your nose against the cheek of the other person, usually a younger relative. It is a common greeting for loved ones or close relatives to show affection and love by exchanging warmth.” 

Ray stares at him for a while, ice and snow piling ever higher around their car and suddenly he thinks that maybe... maybe this is the right time after all.

He takes a shallow breath, willing his heart to slow down a little, just a little so he can concentrate. 

“Can you show me?” he says, the words a mumbled rush falling from his lips in one single breath. 

“Pardon me?”

“Can you show me? That kunik thing. I can't really imagine the whole pressing you nose against stuff bit.” 

It's a thinly veiled suggestion, nothing more, and Benny throws him a quick suspicious glance. Ray doesn't normally take an interest in the customs of the Inuit or anything Canada related as a matter of fact.

But that has more to do with the fact that the usual bits of trivia Benny tells him just don't affect Ray's life on a daily basis (like that one time when Benny told him what innaluaq was made of). 

This kissing stuff on the other hand might come in handy, Ray thinks, rather sooner than later even, if everything goes right. 

(And if Benny loves him. Oh God, he hopes that he does). 

“I..guess I can demonstrate it to you. Here...”

Slowly and awkwardly Benny lifts his left arm. “Imagine this is the face of the person you want to greet... and then you …. kind of... hmpfhhff...” 

He presses the side of his face against the red fabric of the sleeve, his last words coming out muffled, and Ray laughs. 

“I can't see anything, Benny.”

“Oh. Well, that is...”

“How about... how about you do it to me?” 

He can't believe he just said that, Ray thinks as he sees something akin to fear creep in Benny's eyes. He should have listened to himself, should have waited a little bit longer...

Suddenly Benny clears his throat, sitting up straight and nodding like a man on a mission. 

“Yes, that would be the most efficient way I think”, he says. Ray can breath a lot easier all of a sudden. “But you should keep in mind that I am by no means an expert on the field of kuvik greetings. I myself have never been subjected to one and I can only draw from my memory of seeing others do it.” 

“Well from the two people and one wolf in this car you are the expert, so I won't judge you too hard.” Ray winks and although the car is still only dimly lit he swears that he can see Benny blush slightly.

He shifts a bit on the seat. 

“Right. So... it is done like this... You have to turn your head.”

“Like this?”

“Not quite... not so much...may I?”

Ray nods as Benny extends his hand, his heart beating so fast he can barely hear himself think, and then suddenly there are fingers, cool, slender fingers pressed against his jaw, right under his ear and his head is pushed to the side ever so softly. 

The hand feels cold against his face, which is practically burning up from the blush, and Ray would have never guessed that cold fingers would be such a welcome touch while he feels like turning into ice all over. But they are and Ray never wants them gone.

Until Benny – after taking a breath so deep that Ray thinks he can hear his lungs expand – presses his cheek and lips against Ray's face.

It's a gesture of affection, a greeting between friends and family, love, warmth, sharing, taking care of each other in the cold, all these words flood Ray's mouth and he sighs softly, quietly, he doesn't want to disturb Benny, he needs him to stay right here, to caress his face, to hold him, to be by his side for as long as possible...

It lasts a second, maybe two, and Benny is gone again. 

Ray can barely keep himself from whining. Instead he looks at Benny who is back at licking his lips and who stares at Ray like he isn't really sure what just happened.

“That … that was a kunik”, Benny says after a while. He is out of breath. Ray has heard that a thousand times, when he runs up to the car for example, but he has never noticed how sweet a sound it is. 

And then Ray thinks _"#$@ &%* it!“._

It's now or never. 

Slowly he brings his hand to Benny's face, telegraphing his every move. If Benny tries to get out of his way, Ray will back off immediately, but right now Benny just turns his head until his cheek is pressed flat against Ray's palm. He shivers slightly but it's not from the cold and Ray starts breathing even heavier than before. Their breath forms small pearly clouds in the air between them. 

“So... they don't kiss with their noses?”

“No,” Benny whispers and then he closes his eyes. “They use their mouths and lips. And... and their tongues.” 

He's got it, Ray thinks, feeling his heart swell up to thrice its size. Oh God, he is going to die of love.

“Do... do you want me to demonstrate it?” he asks nonetheless. He knows Benny, he knows how he can never say 'No' at the right moment, and Ray is not going to mess this up. 

Not with Benny. Never with Benny. 

But Benny just sighs and nods, pressing his own hand against Ray's neck. 

As Ray leans over, closing the distance between their mouths, he crosses every border of friendship and casual touches but he isn't afraid anymore, because in front of him there is only love, and Benny's happy sigh, as he opens his mouth. 

It's the most brilliant kiss Ray has ever had. Benny's lips are soft and pliant beneath his, he melts into him, a soft, warm kiss, forcing them to leave a hundred things behind and promising a million new things to come.

Benny moans against him and Ray doesn't know what to do, because he feels like he is going to explode. 

How can a single person be so happy, he thinks and he sighs Benny's name, causing Benny's breath to catch in his throat, a sound so great and fulfilling that Ray will do everything he can to hear it again as often as possible. 

Right now, although it pains his heart, he has to push Benny away, as slightly as possible, to get his own breathing back under control. The gearstick digs in his side and all in all this is really not the most comfortable position for a first kiss – nor the romantic setting Ray has imagined – but it is perfect nonetheless. 

Out of the corner of his eye Ray sees that the window is slightly fogged. He almost giggles and quickly looks back at Benny who he has never seen so content and relaxed. 

“Are... are you alright?” he asks quietly and Benny finally opens his eyes again. And then he smiles the brightest, happiest smile Ray has ever seen on him. 

He will not be coming down from this high for days, that's for sure.

“Yes, Ray. I am fine. More than that. I dare say that I am very happy about the outcome of this evening.”

“Really?” 

“Yes. Even though the forgers did not show up just as I assumed.”

“Yeah, me too... I am... wait what? You knew those guys wouldn't come?”

His brain is a mess, he can't think for want of touching and kissing Benny over and over again, but Ray still notices the slightly sheepish look that crosses Benny's face. 

“Well, it was quite unlikely that the criminals would show up in these weather conditions. As you said, one can barely walk not to mention carry crates full of counterfeited money across the streets.”

“Then we didn't you say so from the beginning? This was a bogus operation and you knew it!” 

“Well, I thought it might be good if we spent some time together... to sort things out, so to say. And it did work out splendidly if I dare say.”

Ray has to actively remind himself, that he just kissed the guy and that it was the best kiss of his entire life and that it will not do to strangle him in his car. He blinks two, three times and stares incredulously at Benny. 

“So you are telling me that instead of making out in a nice warm room we were stuck here watching snow pile up for nothing?”

“Well, if you say it like this, it does sound a bit... unfortunate.”

“That's it, we are going home right now! No excuses, no Inuit stories, we are going home and then we are going to kiss like normal people!”

“As you wish, Ray.” 

\- End

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt was "Kuss (ohne Lippen – z. B. "Eskimokuss" oder einen Kuss zuhauchen)" - kiss without lips
> 
>  
> 
> (English isn't my mother tongue, so if you spot any mistakes give me a heads-up).


End file.
